Man charged in theft of videotapes

A Baltimore man was arrested on shoplifting charges Tuesday night in the attempted theft of four videos from the Kmart store in the 8000 block of Ritchie Highway, county police said yesterday.

A Kmart employee said he saw a man stuffing videos into his pants about 7:30 p.m. He stopped the man at the front door and recovered the tapes, which were worth a total of $81. The employee called an Eastern District officer, who arrested and charged the suspect. Wylie Andrew Shaw, 51, of the 2800 block of Windsor Ave. was charged with theft under $300, police said.

Would-be thief sprays workers with Mace

A man who tried to steal two New York Knicks jackets from an Ames department store Tuesday morning escaped without the jackets after spraying two employees with Mace, county police said yesterday.

The man put both jackets on shortly after 11 a.m. and tried to leave the store in the 8100 block of Ritchie Highway. When he saw a store employee walking toward him, he took the jackets off and fled, police said.

A second employee joined in a chase across the parking lot. The man turned around, sprayed both employees with mace, jumped into a two-door maroon Dodge and drove off, police said.